The present disclosure relates generally to a flow adapter for use with an introducer for introducing catheters and other devices for medical intervention.
Catheters have been introduced as a minimally invasive device in many medical applications for temporary catheterization such as clot aspiration and long term catheterization such as hemodialysis. Hemodialysis catheters usually stay in the subject body for extended periods of time (e.g. several weeks or more) to withdraw fluid from the body for processing and simultaneously introduce processed fluid back into the body. Although hemodialysis catheters are minimally invasive, they are foreign to the body and may cause an inflammatory reaction. The reaction may introduce thrombus around the surface of catheters especially in the hub of introducer.
A check flow with a sidearm enables catheters to be flushed with saline and clear the hub and the lumen of any blood or fluids. It is necessary to keep blood out of the catheter to prevent clotting. However, a small amount of blood is often trapped in the back portion of the hub, thereby making it necessary to leave a small amount of anti clotting medicine such as Heparin in the hub to prevent any remaining blood from clotting. In addition to dangers of blood clots, small amounts of anti clotting medicines will enter the blood stream during or after each use of the catheter and may prolong the recovery period or cause complications with patients who do not respond well to these types of drugs.
To solve these problems, the instant application provides a check valve with multiple internal flushing ports disposed about the upstream end of the valve.